Count Down Party on Koh Phangan

The main reason we stayed on Koh Samui was its proximity to Koh Phangan, the site of the monthly Full Moon Parties and the annual Count Down Party for New Years. We sort of knew what to expect from the whole experience, since our friend had gone the previous year. His advice was to avoid the fire jump ropes and keep an eye on our drinks. His night ended when he had to bring his roofied friend to the hospital in bare feet. 

Fully warned by our friend's story and by the hostel owner insisting that "20% of our customers get pickpocketed every year," we boarded the speedboat which took us over to Koh Phangan. Upon our arrival, we noticed many shops selling accessories for the party. We outfitted ourselves in flower headbands, purchased the requisite neon body paint, and spent the next hour painting ourselves for the party and sipping booze from one of the buckets being sold on the street. 

Sufficiently tipsy, we headed down the road to the beach, where the real party was happening. There were masses of bodies (50,000 people!) swaying to house music and lines of men relieving themselves in the sea.

With the new year came fireworks, which exploded in the air above us. They were set off so close, I could feel the debris from the explosions raining down on my shoulders and face as I watched. I covered my eyes to avoid getting still-heated bits of firework in my eyes. Way to go Thailand! Safety first!

Not long after midnight, we were ready to go home. We joined the obnoxiously long queue to board the speedboats back to our own island, and hoped for the best. Two and a half hours later, after dealing with pushy, grumpy drunk people and after hopping a fence or two, we were able to board our speedboat. We got to our hostel at around 5:30am and collapsed into bed as the sun rose. 

 

Post-party hamburger. Not delicious.

Koh Samui

Directly following our flight back from Chiang Mai, we spent the day in Bangkok and then took the night bus down to Surat Thani and then a ferry across to the island of Samui. 

We arrived at the ferry port in the early morning after an uneventful ride south. The night bus ride wasn't too terrible.... No, the terrible part was the ferry over to Koh Samui. We sat outside on the upper deck, mouths firmly pressed closed, hands balled up and white knuckled, eyes fixed on the horizon. Our mantra became, "I will not puke. I will not puke. I will not puke..." As the boat sped through tossing waves. 

A group of attractive Australians stood talking and laughing at the railing, like an ad in a travel magazine. I watched one model-esque tanned male flip his hair back in the breeze, as I continued to stare fixedly at the horizon, trying my best to ignore the retching sounds of the Chinese man sitting behind me. 

Finally, we arrived at the island, white faced and grateful to be on solid land. We took a cab to our hostel and sprawled into our beds, exhausted but ready to hit the beach. 

A good summary of our time on Koh Samui is as follows: We ate a lot, we swam a bit, we did nothing.

Unfortunately the weather was constantly overcast, but it didn't stop us from laying out on the beach all day, trying to catch some rays.

Chilling at a cafe in Bangkok